The Mountaineer – Jerzy Kukuczka

Jerzy Kukuczka was born in Katowice, Poland, and was a Polish alpine and high-altitude climber.

He was the second man in history to gain the ‘Crown of the Himalayas’ by climbing fourteen of the world’s highest mountains in the world including Mount Everest, K-2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II, Shisha Pangma. Reinhold Messner being the first mountaineer to do this.

He climbed all summits, except for Mount Everest, without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Kukuczka died attempting to climb the unclimbed South Face of Lhotse Mountain in Nepal in October 1989.